InklingsInsight

2024 was a year of gaining and losing. Hahaha, you would regard that every year is like that. What was exceptional in that year? No, my friend. When I say gaining and losing, I mean embracing goodness and losing negativity, holding myself and letting go of what did not work for me, and the significant thing is carrying the ideology of everything coming to me at the right time and place, be it buying new things, collaborating with people in life, or traveling places. With that, I am writing this blog to reflect upon my year 2024. It was challenging to cover 365 days in one post, so I resolved to put it in six words that would sum up the whole year.  ✨ Struggles - Though "struggles" are what keep life in place, I still wanted to use this word to sum up. Even after trying desperately to tick off one particular thing that did not work out as expected, I remember how different lessons I learned with each passing day and month. It was then that I realized I should be determined, no...

Was it time to say bye already? We woke up lazily in the morning as it was the travel day back to our locations. Since the trek ended, everyone felt overwhelmed and satisfied to complete the challenge they gave to themselves.  Meanwhile, Shreya, Sapna, and I got ready, and Sejal slept a little more. We tried to wake her, but she did not rise until Shreya and Sapna shouted, "Spider." There was a giant spider on the wall above Sejal's bed. Half-conscious, she glimpsed what the fuss was about and awakened hysterically when she noticed that spider. Tanvi came to check if we were ready and informed us about breakfast. All of us were reluctant to climb stairs, either to get water or to enquire what was on the breakfast menu. Sapna took over this and found it was Chola Bhatura, and we simultaneously decided to skip breakfast and halt on the way to grab a bite. We started our journey at about 7:15 a.m. after collecting our certificates for the trek to Valley of Flowers from the H...

It was the last day before we traveled back to our places. None of us followed the schedule to get ready and woke up lazily together. After all, it was the last day, and we were in no hurry as we had to descend, and it would take less time.  We got ready by 7 a.m. and had breakfast. We started at 7:30 a.m. We had a chat on the way. More than anything, everyone was eager to taste fresh peach one last time. The target was to hunt the shop where we had peaches when we came to Ghangaria. After walking for a certain distance, Shreya felt uneasy. She felt soreness in her legs making it difficult for her to walk. Reluctantly, she had to continue her journey on the back basket carrier as it was a long distance to cover. Shreya left, and we decided to catch up with her at the bridge that was 4 km away from that spot. We had an evening plan for Badrinath Temple, so we kept a steady pace to reach Govindghat on time to depart for Badrinath. Within 1.5 hours, we covered 4 km and spent some time...

We all went to bed late and could not sleep well the previous night. But that day, we had to start early as the trek was steeper than what we did in the past two days. So, we started our day at 4:15 in the morning, following the schedule (check previous blog to find what schedule meant here). But today was a bit different than other days. It was Sejal's birthday. As we woke up, we started singing a birthday song for her. I went to her and gave her a bear hug. After birthday wishes, she went to get ready, and others followed. As we decided, we were ready for breakfast by 6:15. On the breakfast table, I found the menu had milk oats and vegetable semolina porridge. It was unexpected to receive these items in a meal on hills. But the organizers treated us well before and after the trek. We all got down after breakfast by 6:45 to start as early as possible. Since there was no restriction to ascend Hemkund, we started ourselves without waiting for a guide because we knew he could join us...

It was raining heavily throughout the night. In the morning, when we woke, our first concern was if it was still raining. We all felt shattered but manifested clear weather. But we had to start the day with hope, and here's how we started. You know, we had a schedule of waking up? Yes, you read it right! The person who wanted to use the washroom in the first place would wake up at 5 a.m. and wake the next person by 5:15 a.m., and the sequence followed as we were four people in a room to manage to get ready by 6:30 a.m. Sejal would wake up at 5 a.m. and get ready. Then Sapna would freshen up, and I and Shreya would wake up together because we needed some time before freshening up and drinking a lot of water. So, when Tanvi (trip leader) would knock on our door to wake us, even if we were awake, we would take our sweet time to open the door. During our stay at Ghangharia, hot water was chargeable, so what we did most of the time was getting water from a water filter not to drink but ...